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We’ve put together a list of the best Indie Games for Steam for you to try. From survival games to puzzle games, this list is sure to have something that will catch your eye. Each of these games has changed the lives of its creators and given gamers a true gem that a big publisher hasn’t changed. More and more people are getting their hands on Valve’s Steam Deck, which seems to have won over the gaming community as a whole.
It’s an impressive device that tries to put all the good things about computer gaming in your hands. Indie games are perfect for handheld gaming, and even though Valve’s new portable beast can do a lot more, we often find ourselves going back to the simpler experiences that indie games offer. There are so many to choose from, but here are a few of the best independent games you can play on the Steam Deck.
Best Indie Games For Steam
Inscryption
At first glance, Inscryption looks like a card game, but it’s actually a lot more than that. The first part of the game is a mix of Slay the Spire and lane-based card games, but it has a macabre feel to it because you have to kill smaller animals to play bigger and better ones that will kill your opponent.
The creepy atmosphere worsens as you look around the creepy log cabin you’re playing in. Inscryption is also a bit like an escape room game, where you have to figure out cryptic clues to get out. Soon, it’s clear that nothing is as it seems, and trying to figure out what’s going on takes you on an unexpected trip.
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium might have been the best independent video game of 2019. After a night of drinking that made you forget everything, they put you in the dirty shoes of a detective and told you to look into a brutal murder right away. In Disco Elysium, there isn’t much in the way of traditional combat.
Instead, the game is all about fighting with your own mind to become the kind of detective you want to be, and then using this broken personality to get answers from suspects. This wouldn’t work without great writing, and in this way, Disco Elysium is the best RPG out there. The best thing about this detective game is that there are so many conversational threads to choose from, and every single one of them is full of personality.
Neon White
Neon White is a fast-paced FPS platformer that combines some of the best parts of well-known games and genres, such as Ghostrunner’s smooth parkour, Inscryption’s interesting card-based powerups, and Doom’s chaotic shooting. The result is a colorful, explosive action platformer, a speedrunner’s dream. You and your friends will compete to see who can get the highest score in the shortest amount of time.
It works great on the Deck and keeps a solid 60 frames per second without any problems, which is important for a game that requires lightning-fast reflexes. The levels move quickly, so you can use the Steam Deck’s portability to pick up and play through the game’s bite-sized levels whenever you want.
Core Keeper
Core Keeper takes the best parts of popular survival and exploration games and creatively adds to them to make something new. You’ll explore a huge network of caves underground that have different biomes in order to figure out the mystery at the centre. As with most survival games, you’ll need to mine valuable resources to make better gear to fight tough bosses. However, farming and building a base are also very important.
Even though it’s in Early Access, the game has a lot of content, the developers are still working on it, and there’s a clear plan for what’s to come. It works great on Steam Deck, and with up to eight players in online co-op, it’s a great place to hang out with friends and do some relaxing farming and exploring.
V Rising
V Rising is an action role-playing game (ARPG) that combines elements from popular games like Diablo and Valheim. You start the game by either making a server or joining an existing one. Then you enter a new world. Your goal is to make things, build things, get stronger, and beat bosses from all over the world. You can build your own castle while figuring out how to stay alive as a vampire in a human world.
V Rising has as much to do as any other open-world survival-crafting game. You’ll get a different ability from each boss you beat, and different weapon types will also give you different abilities. V Rising is a lot of fun to play with friends because you can do everything together, like build a base, fight a boss, or go exploring.
Overcooked
Overcooked is a local co-op game where you work together to make and serve a certain dish. The rules sound easy, but these tasks have to be done in a certain order. This makes the game a lot harder because you have to talk to your friends or family more. For example, to send a requested dish, you must serve a clean plate with all the necessary ingredients (cooked or not).
Set it out to be served, and wait for the plate to come back dirty so you can clean it again and get ready for the next order. The problem gets worse when you reach stages with difficult terrain or tricky mazes that make it hard to get through the kitchen. Up to 4 people can play the game, and the more people who join in, the more chaos there is.
Darkest Dungeon 2
Dread is Darkest Dungeon’s default state. In a general sense, it’s a dungeon crawler, but the dungeons are dank and gross, with the occasional cobweb and exhumed grave. Add to that the fact that you have to keep your group’s sanity in check, which isn’t easy in a game that borrows a little from Lovecraft, and you have an RPG that rarely gives you a break.
In Darkest Dungeon 2, the setting changes from a creepy village to a creepy caravan. However, the same feeling of managing doomed adventurers and sending them on grisly quests remains, and there are even more ways for your party to grow to hate each other slowly. But the fear is still there, which is good because that fear makes Darkest Dungeon so good. Thus, this game is one of the best Indie Games for Steam that you can steam from official website right now.
Oikospiel
We think that Oikospiel is a game about dogs making an opera game. David Kanaga, who made the game, wrote the music, and did everything else: The Oikospielen Opera is making plans for THE GEOSPIEL. This epic global-gaming festival will happen in the year 2100. The Union of Animal Workers, which is made up of opera workers, is trying to bring the game-developing dogs of Koch Games into their group.
However, these dogs love their jobs and their boss Donkey Koch too much to join. Will there be Unity, or will there be a lot of different things? It’s just as strange as it sounds, and it literally sounds strange. Oikospiel is a touching, psychedelic trip through the history of video games with a meaningful message about work. Its music matches the frantic landscapes.
Cult of the Lamb
In Cult of the Lamb, you control the lamb and become the leader of a cult that worships a demon. There are two different parts to the game. The first is to build and run a home for yourself and your followers. They can be given certain jobs to do, like gathering resources, building new buildings, or doing rituals. The second is about going through the randomly made dungeons to kill heretics and find new members.
Have you ever wondered what animals do when you’re not watching? The cats sleep, the dogs guard the house, the lambs lead the sect, and the fish… wait, what? The developers at the Massive Monster studio decided to let the secret out and show us more about the dark side of the lives of these creatures that seem harmless.
Signalis
Signalis should be right up your alley if you’re not afraid of scary things. In this sci-fi survival horror game, you play as Elster, an android who wakes up on a mysterious snowy planet. The main goal of the main character is to find her missing partner. During the game, you’ll go to different places and solve puzzles of different levels of difficulty.
On your journey, you will also meet dangerous creatures from your worst nightmares that you must avoid or kill. Unfortunately, there isn’t much ammunition. Singalis is also one of the best independent games on PC Game Pass, a subscription service from Microsoft that lets users play a library of games that is always growing.
Final Words
The best Indie Games for Steam from 2022 are on this list. Even though some titles were available earlier through early access, we decided to include them if their 1.0 versions came out this year. Independent developers’ innovative games show over and over again that the gaming industry is so much more than just AAA games. We can all agree that 2022 was a great year for smaller creators based on the games that came out.